CAROLINE WOZNIACKI and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga kept the younger generation at bay – but nothing can stop teenage sensation Marta Kostyuk.
The Ukrainian, 15, became the youngest player to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since 1997.
Kostyuk won the junor event in Melbourne last year and followed up her opening round victory by beating Australia’s Olivia Rogowska 6-3 7-5.
She is the youngest winner of a round at the Australian Open since Martina Hingis in 1996 and the youngest to reach a Slam third round since Mirjana Lucic’s breakthrough at the 1997 US Open.
Kostyuk has claimed in the past not really to like tennis and to have been too much of a perfectionist earlier in her career.
She said: “You can’t be a perfectionist in tennis. You have a mistake in every point, every shot.
“I felt so bad on court. It was hot but I made it through.”
So did Wozniacki, somehow. The world No 2 was 1-5 and two match points down to Croatia’s Jana Fett, but recovered to win 3-6 6-2 7-5.
And Denis Shapovalov seemed set to join fellow teenager Kostyuk in the third round when he served for the match against Tsonga, but the veteran Frenchman completed a run of five games in a row to claim a 3-6 6-3 1-6 7-6 7-5 victory.
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World No 1 Rafael Nadal made smoother progress to the third round, but had to work much harder than in his first-round victory over Victor Estrella Burgos.
Argenutina’s Leonardo Mayer gave Nadal a real game and broke the Spaniard when he was serving for the match before forcing a third-set tiebreak.
World No 1 Nadal, who eventually won 6-3 6-4 7-6 to earn a clash with Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur, said: “It’s an important victory for me.
“He’s a tough, dangerous opponent.
“I had to hit some great shots in the tiebreak.”
Impressive as Mayer was, Nadal is showing little sign so far of the knee problems which resurfaced at the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2.
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